"Bradley Cooper"
Press play and read along
Transcript
Speaker 2 AutoTrader is powered by Auto Intelligence, the hyper-personalized way to buy a car online. See only vehicles you actually want with tools that sync with your exact budget and preferences.
Speaker 2 Choose new or pre-owned, narrow by style, and select features, even a trailer hitch.
Speaker 2 And with pricing, you'll see which listings are the best deals so you can feel like you're winning the negotiation without negotiating.
Speaker 2 AutoTrader, powered by auto intelligence, makes car buying less of a process. Visit auto trader.com to buy your perfect ride online.
Speaker 2 Nobody wants to spend the holiday season clicking from one site to the next to get their hands on the best brands. But who knew Walmart has the top brands we all love?
Speaker 2
Like the big names that your friends and family actually want and all in one place. Nespresso, Nintendo, Apple, you name it.
Get the brands everyone loves at prices you'll love at Walmart.
Speaker 1 Who knew?
Speaker 2 Go to Walmart.com or download the app to get all your gifts this season.
Speaker 1
Welcome to the 100th episode of Smartless. I am your new host, Bradley Cooper.
The other guys have, they resigned.
Speaker 1
They just asked for too much money. No, I'm just kidding.
These guys are going to be right up. Here's a new episode of Smart Lists.
Smart.
Speaker 1 List.
Speaker 1 Smart.
Speaker 1 List.
Speaker 1 Smart.
Speaker 1 List.
Speaker 1
Sean, I just wanted to ask you about. Happy 100th episode, by the way.
Oh, thank you. Thank you the 100th episode? Congrats, fellas.
This is the 100th episode. Happy 100.
Speaker 1 Wait a minute. This is our 100th episode? This is
Speaker 1 100. What is that?
Speaker 3 Is that that's not isn't 50 is gold, right?
Speaker 3 What's the golden anniversary?
Speaker 1
25 is 25. I guess there isn't a hundred anniversary because you'd be dead.
25 is silver. Yeah, there's no hundred.
There's no hundredth anniversary. Who's married? Oh, it'd be platinum.
Speaker 1
I think it would be platinum, wouldn't it? Well, I think 75th is diamond. Okay.
75th is diamond. Okay.
Let's look it up.
Speaker 1 Has anybody been married 100 years?
Speaker 3 Well, I know a couple who it feels like 100.
Speaker 1
Oh, no. Is it you? What? No.
How dare you?
Speaker 1 It says, I Googled it.
Speaker 2
It says, what is the 100th anniversary color? It's purple. Ideas is, you could do a photo spread.
You could do historical games.
Speaker 3 What enterprise is that?
Speaker 1
Weirdo. Google.
It's not Google is not giving it to you. They've routed you to some other third-party aftermarket site.
Speaker 3 But let's not get past the headline here, our own pathetic internal headline.
Speaker 1 100.
Speaker 3 100 means that we've done two years of shows, right?
Speaker 1 Can you believe that anybody would want to listen to us for an hour? No.
Speaker 3 So let's take a second here and thank that single listener we have out there.
Speaker 3 Mr. or Mrs., thank you for
Speaker 3 making it seem to yourself like listening to us three morons talk for an hour qualifies as entertainment. But
Speaker 3 please don't stop because we like doing that.
Speaker 2 Doesn't it feel like a week?
Speaker 3 It does feel like a week.
Speaker 1 You sounded like, but doesn't it doesn't it seem like
Speaker 2 like Jiminy Glick?
Speaker 3 We've talked to a hundred people.
Speaker 1 JB, did you play golf today on your 100th?
Speaker 3 No, I just woke up late and I couldn't wash my hair.
Speaker 3
I've even gone to, I'm on Amanda's computer. I don't have my glasses on.
Walk us through. This is what's going on.
If you could smell me right now, why don't you cut the hair?
Speaker 2 Oh, my God. It's so hot.
Speaker 1 I'm kind of loving the hair these days. I got to say, the other day, I really loved it it was coming out every side of your visor.
Speaker 3
I don't. I don't like it.
And why do I listen to my wife about the length of my hair? Can't I just keep it short and dorky and dumb and square?
Speaker 1
No, don't worry. You look dumb and square a lot of the time.
You know,
Speaker 1 son of a.
Speaker 1 By the way, the thing about Jason is, and I think everybody knows, Sean, everybody who knows him knows the one truth.
Speaker 1
Actually, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.
Well,
Speaker 1 what is it? It sounded like it might be a compliment. So
Speaker 1 continue? It doesn't matter.
Speaker 1
No, I'm not going to get it because it's not fair. We all know this, but we're not going to say it to him and forget it.
It doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 Well, you want to say that. Fucking hook, line, and sinker.
Speaker 1 There is no thing.
Speaker 1 That was a test.
Speaker 1
Sean, I just want to say this. I want to tell a true story that happened the last couple of days.
And this is Jason. And I love him so much.
Speaker 1 We were playing golf against these guys. And if you understand golf, and if you're bored,
Speaker 1
you know, go wash the dishes for a second or turn. Okay.
You know, Sean, not you, not you.
Speaker 3 By the way, we're just trying to stay connected to the people, by the way. When we're out there playing golf, we're just trying to keep it.
Speaker 1 We're playing with Randos. We're going out to the public course and we're just picking up a couple of Randos and we're saying, come hit with us.
Speaker 2 That's how I met him.
Speaker 1
So anyway, these guys, Jason and I are playing against these guys and they're crushing us on the front nine. They're beating us.
I'm all over the place. I'm playing terrible.
Jason's not playing.
Speaker 1 He's pretty great, but he's not playing as normal great.
Speaker 1 And so after nine holes, they're beating us. On the back nine, totally different.
Speaker 2 You don't know these guys?
Speaker 1 We barely know. We sort of know one of the guys.
Speaker 1 We know one of the guys, the other guy we don't know.
Speaker 1 On the back nine, we start to come back, and there's one hole left, and we're walking from the 17th green to the 18th tee, and we have a chance to eradicate the loss. And Jason goes, all we got to do.
Speaker 1 They're up ahead of us, these guys.
Speaker 3 I don't speak like a dude from Bayonne when I want to get down to business.
Speaker 1 All we got to do is we got to get a nice piece. Pieces.
Speaker 3 Price for Salmon.
Speaker 1
Get some sazage. No, he says, says, all we got to do is we got to win this hole.
And he goes, I'm telling you, man, if we beat these guys, they should kill themselves.
Speaker 2 What is this, the karate kid?
Speaker 1 And I go, kill themselves. I go, take your foot off the gas, man.
Speaker 1 It's Wednesday. Okay.
Speaker 1 They should kill themselves.
Speaker 1 I was trying.
Speaker 3 I had to get myself up.
Speaker 1
He went so psycho, Sean. It was.
I believe it. It was crazy.
Speaker 3 That's where my wars are fought.
Speaker 1 You know, you take it really seriously. Listen, we've come,
Speaker 1 we're at 100 episodes.
Speaker 2 I also want to just say this, because this is the last time we're going to say it, because the next time we record an episode, we're not going to be able to say this.
Speaker 2 In four days, it's Will Arnett's birthday.
Speaker 3 Speaking of 100, we're hungry.
Speaker 1 Oh, it's a century. You're a century years old.
Speaker 1 Oh, happy birthday. Happy Love.
Speaker 1 Sweet, sweet Willie. How old are you going to be? Let's go.
Speaker 1
I'm going to be 52. I'm going to be 52.
So
Speaker 1 we know that this is recorded before my birthday. And very generously, our friend is having a nice
Speaker 1 birthday dinner for us tonight.
Speaker 3 And the kids and I'm generously showing up.
Speaker 1 I, too.
Speaker 1 And I'm so excited to see you guys.
Speaker 2 I know, I'm too.
Speaker 1
I haven't seen you guys in so long. I know, because you were in Chicago.
I've been in Atlanta. I've seen Jason, you know, when he suggested those guys kill themselves.
Speaker 1 But I'm really excited.
Speaker 3 What do you hope to get for your birthday? Yeah. I mean, I know it doesn't really matter about gifts once you get past about 12.
Speaker 1 Oh, God. I don't even know what you're talking about.
Speaker 3 Are you looking for anything?
Speaker 1 No, I don't ever expect to get a gift.
Speaker 3 Do you think you're going to get anything from your boys?
Speaker 1 I hope they get like a nice picture or a poem or something.
Speaker 1 They're both really good.
Speaker 1 They're really nice that way.
Speaker 2 That would be redundant because I wrote you a poem.
Speaker 3 Honestly, what are the odds of them writing you a poem?
Speaker 1 I don't know. I'm just really excited to
Speaker 1 see you guys and have all the people people I love and around and
Speaker 3 hope you cry tonight.
Speaker 3 That's going to be my goal is to get you to cry tonight, which might mean I might stand up and do
Speaker 3
a toast, which I can't. I hate doing it.
Nothing makes me more nervous.
Speaker 1 That's why you got to do it. That's why you got to do it.
Speaker 3 Yeah. I could give me,
Speaker 3 anything in front of the camera or whatever is fine.
Speaker 3 But making a toast or a speech in front of a bunch of people on stage, when we did the tour, in front of a an auditorium full of people on a stage with a spotlight is the most nerve-wracking thing but you were great you went great you could have yourself but you know i mean i've got i've got acting skills i know how to bury the the the sweat but um i just don't like it but especially not a toast i just feel like such i can't wait for it tonight
Speaker 3 i can't wait expecting people to stop what you're doing and listen to me as i hold up a glass is the most arrogant thing ever
Speaker 1 nothing no but it's nice
Speaker 2 it's nice we're gonna do it tonight We're going to do it tonight.
Speaker 1 We're all going to toast each other.
Speaker 2 My toast is going to be: here's the Jason's toast, and then I'm going to force you to.
Speaker 1
Oh, and pass it on. That's nice.
Jason, you just don't. It's tough for you to connect on that emotional level.
Speaker 1 And I think that if you just connect to the feeling and forget what you have to say, nobody's judging you, and just connect to the feeling for once. Can you imagine what a breakthrough that would be?
Speaker 3
Guess what? That's what you're going to get tonight. We're going to reference this tonight.
Great. And then I'm going to stumble my way through it.
Speaker 1 I can't wait. You're going to pick me up with a motion.
Speaker 1
I am not going to break eye contact with you either. I am not breaking eye contact no matter what.
Speaking of eye contact,
Speaker 1 our guest, an ophthalmologist, is someone, if you make eye contact, if you happen to get locked into this person's gaze.
Speaker 2 Oh, boy. This is our 100th episode guest.
Speaker 1 This better be good. Let me say something.
Speaker 3 Well, this better be good.
Speaker 1 And this is somebody that we've all
Speaker 1
better be good. This is somebody we've all locked the gaze with.
Real world. But not just us.
The world has locked the gaze, and he is locked in on the world. He has made a connection, a contact
Speaker 1 that is just that is tough to be broken.
Speaker 1
But this is somebody that we've been in contact with for a long time. The three of us are friends with this person.
This person is a friend of the show. This person is a friend of ours.
Speaker 1
This person has seven more Academy Award nominations than the three of us. Combined.
Which means that he has seven.
Speaker 3 I don't know anyone that's had seven
Speaker 1 seven nominations
Speaker 1 for acting and three for like
Speaker 1 nervous.
Speaker 1 Directing
Speaker 1
and all of the above. This is a person that we all adore.
This is a person who's been part of our lives for a long time that we've been on a journey with for a long time. And he has
Speaker 1 my hair.
Speaker 1 He has single-handedly, just absolutely
Speaker 1
done incredible things over the last 15 years, but he's always been an incredible person. But on top of it, he's just an incredible guy.
I don't want to talk about
Speaker 1
his work accolades because I want to talk about how much we love this person. I can't wait to bring them in.
For our 100th episode, I have brought our dear friend, Mr. Bradley Cooper.
Speaker 1 Holy crap.
Speaker 1 For the 100th episode.
Speaker 1
Mr. Cooper.
Bradley.
Speaker 1
It couldn't be more fitting. It couldn't be more fitting.
Damn, that's good. That's really good.
And Bradley combed his hair today. I've admired Will for so long.
Honestly, you're talking.
Speaker 1 I was getting so excited that you were talking about me.
Speaker 1
What a nice bait and switch, though. I can't believe he's talking about me.
He's not even saying these things about me. We used to be like, we used to share an apartment to bed.
Speaker 1 I was like, does he ever even think about me?
Speaker 1 Brad, I love you. Do you remember the apartment? You guys all remember the apartment? Remember, we used to play cards downstairs in that old apartment.
Speaker 1
What was the actor's name that lived below you? Ron Rifkin. Ron Rifkin.
And his wife, Isla, lived in the front.
Speaker 3 Now, Bradley, oh my gosh. You know, I thought this is, I would have never guessed because I thought we used all the favor you would give us
Speaker 3 by you making that cameo on the on the on the on the live version.
Speaker 1 I thought I thought I used it up.
Speaker 1 So when Will texted me, I was so excited because I thought that that I that you guys had no people but people don't know that but but you joined us on the tour socially backstage.
Speaker 2
We were all hanging out for a long time. It was so fucking fun.
And you came on only briefly. So you haven't really done an episode.
Speaker 1 So this is now we get a full 60 minutes although we have cut into your time a little bit we've cut yeah we are we always cut into people's time with our garbage which is no that's the best part of the show
Speaker 3 bradley what's your middle name oh
Speaker 1 god and then sean's gonna go
Speaker 1 history can i give a little can i give a little history can i go history
Speaker 1 because for for everybody that that uh knows the show you know i've had the the great fortune to know all of these guys separately uh for about 20 years each yeah that's crazy.
Speaker 1 And in each one of their circles, they have always been the funniest person in the room, and everybody knows it.
Speaker 1
And I'll go as far as to say that Will's probably always been the king of every room combined. That's literally what everybody's always said.
It's just a...
Speaker 3
This can't be Will. Look for you.
Everyone's playing for the silver.
Speaker 1 So
Speaker 1 for all these guys to be together, and I said this on stage, too, but I finally, like, what I've been able to be a benefactor of, now everybody gets to as well.
Speaker 1 And that's part of, I think, why it's so
Speaker 1 successful but the other thing was like you have this way of talking Jason in the first like I don't know 15 years I knew you I was always like oh he's fucking with me what's your middle name Bradley
Speaker 1 now Bradley what's your mid like I give a fuck what your answer is I'm just looking for a way to demolish you
Speaker 1 so every time I'm like oh I don't know Jason it's it's a Charlie it's a Charles Cooper based on my dad who died you gonna make fun of that well you know I I do I do I do Are you gonna hit me there, Jason?
Speaker 3 I do admit that I sound and act a lot shittier than I really am.
Speaker 1
I'm not gonna make fun of it. By the way, can I say that? So that was the first 15 years.
I'd say the last five years I've come to realize that Jason
Speaker 1 is really kind of a wonderful human being.
Speaker 1 I'm not the ass.
Speaker 3 Or that everybody thinks he's.
Speaker 1 But there is something about the tone, the prosody one could say of the way you speak.
Speaker 1 Will
Speaker 1 I get an amen here?
Speaker 2 You could get five amen. So you can get a shit girl.
Speaker 3 Sean and I saw some time on
Speaker 3 the documentary, the behind-the-scenes special that we shot of this tour thing that you're doing.
Speaker 1 Yeah, Bradley, Witcher, and you know, you know, when Sam was shooting that thing, right? Yeah, of course.
Speaker 3 And so,
Speaker 3 so Will and I saw a couple hours of it.
Speaker 3 And I said to Will yesterday, right before I said that golfers should kill themselves, that
Speaker 1 I said, I think I'm just such an asshole on that thing. Don't I seem like a real person?
Speaker 3 He's like, no, man, me.
Speaker 3 I think I'm just a crabby ass.
Speaker 2 By the way, and this is why you did where you were like sean why didn't you come i didn't want to go through this like i don't want to like well let me tell you something sunshine weeder couldn't be nice
Speaker 3 you look you come off looking like
Speaker 3 when you're the prick yeah you're the mother
Speaker 1 yeah you're so you're happy go lucky yeah guys i don't mind anything turn the cameras off first of all
Speaker 1 the first 20 minutes we talk about food oh my god it's hilarious it's nothing but food and we kept and what we kept in was because jason keeps bringing up brother you love this.
Speaker 1 What
Speaker 1 Sam kept in was me finally going to Jason, you're going to watch this and you're going to see how obsessed with food you are and you're going to be so ashamed at your fucking neuroses.
Speaker 1
It's so true, though. It's so true, but you're not an asshole.
I'm an asshole because anytime anybody says anything, I just like hammer them. But wait a minute.
Speaker 3 I hope everybody knows that we all love each other and that's why we get after each other like brothers.
Speaker 1
Of course. Bradley, you're obsessed with food.
Jason's not obsessed with you. Oh, look who's here.
It's Bradley. Right? Because you, because you are, your body is insane.
My body. Your body is insane.
Speaker 1
You're always in such fucking great shape. Always.
That's not Sean. That is just incorrect.
Oh, my God. That is an incorrect statement.
Speaker 3 No, it's not. No, it's pretty close to me.
Speaker 1 I literally was just at the rehearsal today with all these dancers because we're doing this part of the movie. I'm about to start a movie, so we're in prep.
Speaker 2 Bradley's playing Leonard Bernstein, and it's going to be.
Speaker 1 I was watching the playback, and I was like, I look like a fucking line, like a wrestler my my shoulders I was like how is this dude what are we gonna do
Speaker 1 all these beautiful bodies this is fucking me like
Speaker 3 dancing like I got fucking like lead on my feet but by the way you are like what you know I thought that you know when you see somebody who's like super fucking talented super fucking nice super fucking handsome and then you see them do another thing really well and you're like oh my god life's not fair Every time you dance on something, it's incredible.
Speaker 3 Like, I can't.
Speaker 1
I actually do love to dance. That was like the one thing bar mitzvahs.
I couldn't wait for the bar mitzvah. That was all my time.
Like, for women, wait till they get a low to me. I'm not kidding.
Speaker 1
I'd be like, let's get a list of it. Shabbat chalor.
Shabbat chalor. Good yantif.
Good yantif. Good yon tip.
But I will say this. I mean, Bradley,
Speaker 1
dancing or whatever it is, when you did Star Isborn, I had this, like, Bradley and I had this surreal moment years ago. Oh, that was amazing.
Remember that? I was at CinemaCon,
Speaker 1
and I got to introduce Bradley Cummins. He was showing a trailer for his movie.
And he had just directed this huge
Speaker 1 and written
Speaker 1 in this movie produced and we sat stood there on the stage with the whole audience and watched it and it was so surreal we both had tears in our eyes
Speaker 1 crazy you had that like remember you and you were and you had to host this whole thing which was nuts and you had this like did you have a white suit on am i crazy i think it was like it was like i think that's right you had like this like like really like cool suit on and you were sweating like like you were like i mean you were working your ass off dude yeah yeah it was working my ass off it was fucking crazy it was like elvis and veg like literally it felt like Vegas because that CinemaCon stadium is very vertical.
Speaker 1
Remember? It's like it's not, there's not much depth. It feels like you're in the Thunderdome.
I looked like I had just eaten a million fried banana sandwiches, too. I looked so huge at the time.
Speaker 1
I was a dump. Dan is fucked too.
I remember that. Dan is fucked.
Speaker 3 Bradley, is Leonard Bernstein dancing in this movie? No.
Speaker 1
Yeah. Yes.
Well, I don't want to give up, but there is this sort of magical moment.
Speaker 2
But tell people, I don't know if you heard me. Bradley's written, directed, and starring again in a movie.
This time he's playing Leonard Bernstein.
Speaker 1
Which is exciting. It's a movie about marriage.
It's not a biopic. But yes, yeah, I do play Leonard Bernstein.
Yeah. Yeah.
We started shooting May 21st.
Speaker 1 I just got back from Massachusetts yesterday.
Speaker 2
We drove there. That's so exciting.
I can't wait.
Speaker 1 Yeah, I have to say, you know, it's been four and a half years in the making, and I'm...
Speaker 1
I feel very grateful. I feel so grateful.
This has been such a labor of love for you, man.
Speaker 1 And you have put in the work and you've gone through so many stages of shooting pieces and developing it and writing it and researching it and learning and jason was kind enough to sit through a lot of the test proofs that i showed you remember and i love that was one of the times as i walked back in my car i'm like oh he's just ripping me apart
Speaker 1 no
Speaker 3 are you out of your trying to pretend that i was like giving i would sit i could sit there for 40 years and watch what you did talk about you know how i dork out on all that stuff but i'm so like you could have picked anything to do a with your first film you could have taken a much smaller bite but no the huge scope and the scale of that thing with a big, huge co-star and
Speaker 3 a remake of like a beloved thing.
Speaker 1 And now you're going to move into this epic about
Speaker 3 a beloved American icon and going into like makeup, a little bit of prosthetics, maybe?
Speaker 1 No, a lot. I mean, he's 25 to
Speaker 1 till he's 69.
Speaker 3 It's just, you're not phoning this in.
Speaker 1
I'm no different than all of you. I mean, Sean, Sean, you're just Oscar Levant.
I mean, you've created this whole entire world, Jason.
Speaker 1
And Will, you've forged your own path that no one could even compare with. So everybody's done what they love.
Yeah. But it's just the truth.
Speaker 1 I don't know if I could play below 30 anymore.
Speaker 1 I don't know.
Speaker 1 Well, you need the prosthetics. Yeah, probably.
Speaker 1 Below 30? If I had to dip below 30, probably.
Speaker 2
I said to Bradley, because Bradley's playing Leonard Bernstein, and he's gay. Well, part of his life he was gay.
And I said, you're going to be making out with dudes? Just the bottom part?
Speaker 1 Holding for laugh
Speaker 3 and rejoining.
Speaker 1 Which part? You waited.
Speaker 1
I said you could remember. You waited.
He just went, bam. It's like, I'm going to wait.
I'm going to stay back here in the five-yard line. I could see him.
My man's going to get open. Whoa.
Speaker 2 Do you have to make out what dudes in the movie and everything? And he said, yeah.
Speaker 1 And I go, look, I can run lines with you if you want.
Speaker 3 Did,
Speaker 3 was, so was there nothing that was right for Sean in the film?
Speaker 1 I mean, yeah.
Speaker 1 You know who's in the movie, Sean? Sean
Speaker 1
Scott Ellis. Huge part.
No way. Are you joking? I'm not joking.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 Scott Ellis, a director of theater on the Broadway.
Speaker 1
No way. Yeah, he's perfect for this role.
I asked him to do it. He said, yes, we just closed it the other day.
I'm so excited. That's so exciting.
That is cool. That's great.
That's cool.
Speaker 1 And we will be right back.
Speaker 2 Now streaming on Paramount Plus, it's the return of Landman, TV's biggest hit from Yellowstone co-creator Taylor Sheridan.
Speaker 2 Academy Award winner Billy Bob Thornton is back as Tommy Norris, facing higher stakes than ever.
Speaker 2 With an all-star cast including Demi Moore, Andy Garcia, and Sam Elliott, tensions rise as Tommy and Camille Miller fight to control M.Tech's oil.
Speaker 2 When his father returns, Tommy must balance life as both oilman and family man. Don't miss Landman season two, now streaming only on Paramount Plus.
Speaker 2
Do you guys love the holiday season? I love it. What's on my shopping list? I want a new Dop Kit bag.
Is that stupid? I think it's great.
Speaker 2 This holiday season, earn cash back at your favorite stores across travel, dining, home essentials, and more with Racketon.
Speaker 2 Stack cash back on top of holiday sales to maximize savings while stores offer their highest cash back rates of the year.
Speaker 2 Yep, if a store is running a 20% off sale and Racketon offers 15% cash back, you can stack both deals together.
Speaker 2 Plus, with Racketon's weekly big deal reveals, you'll find one great store offering epically high cash back for one day only. Hey, maybe I'll get Jason a will adopt kit too.
Speaker 2
Membership is free and it's so easy to sign up. Visit racketon.com, download the app, or install the browser extension.
Join today for a new member welcome bonus after minimum qualifying purchases.
Speaker 2 Terms and conditions apply.
Speaker 4
The family that vacations together stays together. At least, that was the plan.
Except now, the dastardly desk clerk is saying he can't confirm you're connecting rooms. Wait, what?
Speaker 1 That's right, ma'am. You have rooms 201 and 709.
Speaker 4 No, we cannot be five floors away from our kids.
Speaker 1 The doors have double locks. They'll be fine.
Speaker 4 When you want connecting rooms confirmed before you arrive, it matters where you stay.
Speaker 1 Welcome to Hilton.
Speaker 4 I see your connecting rooms are already confirmed. Hilton, for this day.
Speaker 3 And now, back to the show.
Speaker 2 I was going to go back to something Jason said about choosing a starter.
Speaker 1 I want to get...
Speaker 1
Thank you for talking about me, but I do just, I just feel like I want to educate the audience about you guys. So, so let me know.
No, no, no.
Speaker 3 I don't think.
Speaker 1 No, they just know like this stuff about the kids and like the other stuff. But like, guess what?
Speaker 3 Everyone who clicked on this said, oh, Bradley, that's a Bradley episode.
Speaker 1
We want to listen to it. Okay.
It's all about you right now.
Speaker 1
Fuck. Bradley has nine nominations.
I fucked up. Whoa.
Academy Award nominations? Yeah, nine motherfuckers.
Speaker 3 Why did you just finally click on Wikipedia?
Speaker 1
Yeah, I just finally clicked on it. So I was at this party.
I was at this party.
Speaker 1
I mean, I know Will's like this. You know, I never forget anything anybody, mean, has ever said, right? It's like cataloged.
I can tell, I know exactly where I was.
Speaker 1 And if they challenge the verbiage, the sentence structure, I'm like, no, bro, it's not what you said. I never forget.
Speaker 1 It was like,
Speaker 1
you know, the CAA party like four years ago. I don't remember.
At that time, it was like seven nominations, which is crazy. I mean, it's nuts.
And everybody's like, huh? It is crazy.
Speaker 1 But this director guy, I'm
Speaker 1
standing next to a woman who's a dear friend, who's an actress, and he goes, How many do you have? And I was like, oh, yeah, seven. How many do you have? A three.
What world are we living in
Speaker 1 you have seven nominations? What? She's only got three. What is wrong that you and I remember? I was like, I
Speaker 1 hate this business.
Speaker 1
No way. Oh, I never forget it.
I was literally, I remember, and I'm looking at him, like, bro, why are you such an asshole? I would never fucking forget that. Fuck yourself.
Speaker 1 I would make it a point to fucking crush that person.
Speaker 1 And then the first time I was ever nominated, I'll never forget this. I'm at that same party, this 2011, nominated with Daniel Day fucking Lewis.
Speaker 1
It was crazy. And Denzil Washington.
I couldn't believe it, right? I'm like levitating and this like hero female actress that I didn't know at all comes up to me.
Speaker 1
She goes, I think Willie, you know this story. She's like, I saw your movie.
Uh-oh. You deserve the numb.
Woof. I was like, what? I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 The numb.
Speaker 1 And then like 10, 20 minutes later, I'm not kidding. I passed her like going to the bathroom
Speaker 1 and she mouths it, the numb.
Speaker 2 Why was she trying to keep it down?
Speaker 1
down? Like, don't win. You're never going to win.
I'm not going to keep it down. I don't know, dude.
But I remember like, what the fuck is this town?
Speaker 1
Because people are fucked up, man. Because it's all most of the time when you encounter people, I would say like 80% of interactions have to do with them.
It's got nothing to do with them.
Speaker 1 You know what? You know what? You're 100% right.
Speaker 2 Well, anytime anybody says anything negative, it's about their self-hatred.
Speaker 1 But could you imagine saying that to somebody? I mean, like, I mean, no,
Speaker 1 you got to be fucked up to do that. No?
Speaker 1 Yeah,
Speaker 1
here's what I'm going to push. Here's what I'm going to push back, Jason, is kind of what you were saying before about feeling like you're an asshole.
None of us in here would ever actually
Speaker 1 say
Speaker 1
something like that. I will bust it.
Well, funny, though, Sean, 2012, we were at. Oh, boy.
Oh, no.
Speaker 1
Play the tape. Funny you should say that, Will.
Thank you. We were at Victor Garbers on Sunset Plaza.
It was 8.30. We just had the tuna.
Speaker 1 I'm trying to go, this smells like your career.
Speaker 1
Although I will say, you know, coming up in like 1999, 2000, and the comedians that were very popular back then, mean humor was the thing. Right.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 And being an insecure, an insecure person, you know, I was like, and I know, I knew because of Amy, I got to know Will and all that circle.
Speaker 1 And then doing Wedding Crashers, got to know those guys, right? So just around like, and seeing like, oh, and I remember there was a good like.
Speaker 1
year where I all I did was try to access mean humor only out of insecurity in hopes that people would think I'm funny. And I still remember doing this like TV show.
Oh man, it's so embarrassing.
Speaker 1 And like really hurting people's feelings, only trying to mimic people that I thought were funny. And Will, do you remember this? And I'll never forget, man.
Speaker 1 We were living next to each other and Will came into where I was living.
Speaker 1
And he's like, hey, man, we had dinner the night before. I know you're not supposed to cry on the show.
I'm sorry. This is pretty emotional.
I'm not crying.
Speaker 1
You're crying. I'm not crying.
You're crying.
Speaker 1 No, but I'll never forget it because Will, who, you know, can be mean, but it's like, you know, there's no ill will. It's just like, if you know each other, you feel safe the way we do.
Speaker 1 But I didn't know Will that well then. And he was like, hey, man, do you remember we had dinner the other night? And he goes, how did you think that went?
Speaker 1 And I was like, and I remember being at the dinner thinking I was so funny. And I thought these two guys who are my heroes were so, thought that I was so funny.
Speaker 1
I don't know if you remember this, Will. And you're like, I was like, oh, I thought it was great.
I thought I was killing.
Speaker 1
He goes, yeah, man, you were, and Will, our net telling me, he's like, you were a real asshole, man. You were a real asshole.
And I was like, what? He's like, yeah.
Speaker 1
And by the way, have your dogs gone out to the bathroom? And I was like, what? No, what time is it? It's four o'clock. Oh, no.
I think they have to go to the bathroom.
Speaker 1 They're literally standing by the door. And that was like the first time I ever realized I had a problem with drugs and alcohol.
Speaker 1
And it was Will saying that to me. And I'll just never forget it.
I was like, oh, the guy that I think is doing mean humor is telling me like the truth about that.
Speaker 1
And it was like, it changed my entire life. And that moment was when I stopped pursuing this sort of mean humor thing.
Wow.
Speaker 1 Yeah, I'll never forget. Do you remember that, Will?
Speaker 1 I do remember that, yeah. Wow.
Speaker 3 Wow. Thanks for sharing that, Bradley.
Speaker 1 That's yeah, that's amazing. And Bradley,
Speaker 2 was it because you were trying to, quote, fit in? And that's,
Speaker 1 I mean, zero self-esteem of trying, you know, zero and thinking like, oh, here's something.
Speaker 1 Like, my brain works fast oh i can be i can be mean to people right if i'm like finding the holes and i can and then and then you realize that it's not mean it's just a sense it's a type of humor it's a sense of comedy kind of like don rickles was the king well actually i would argue that like i mean it's tricky that's a tricky conversation but i didn't i was so starving that it didn't matter that i was hurting people i didn't even think that i was because i didn't think i was power powerful enough to hurt anybody anyway so i never thought it was really hurting anybody because how could i if i'm worthless right so there was a a, the sort of the pre of that, if you don't,
Speaker 1 so we had another friend
Speaker 1 and you and I had done
Speaker 1 not long before that, we both weirdly, just randomly had to do a photo shoot at the same studio. Do you remember that?
Speaker 1 I forget what it was for, but anyway, and you were, there were a bunch of other people there. We were doing in different stages in Hollywood, like on Formosa or something.
Speaker 1 And you were kind of going through that stage where you were just being very aggressive
Speaker 1 at that. and
Speaker 1 you know and you were funny but you were also like sometimes like really hardcore and it was like whoa man and I remember thinking and then that night was was kind of that moment when I was like and the truth was I remember at that time being at that at that stage and this buddy was there saying like wow I feel really bad Barley's been coming on really strong and I go I think that it's okay I think he's just trying to fuck around and it's okay and then that happened with our other friend
Speaker 1 and I just remember thinking, that's always a tricky thing, but I just remember thinking, you know, I love you and wanted you to be
Speaker 1 okay. You know what I mean? And I knew that you weren't feeling great about
Speaker 1 stuff.
Speaker 2 Was that the moment, Bradley, that you just described, or was there something more, even more significant that made you, that clicked in your brain that says, oh, shit, I really have to look at myself and maybe take a left.
Speaker 1 Well, I was so, I mean, I was so lost.
Speaker 1 I was so lost and I was you had a weird you had I was so and I was addicted to cocaine you know that was the other thing and you injured your remember you injured your leg oh yeah severed my Achilles tendon right after I got fired slash quit alias and that you know it was like it was it was
Speaker 3 but you know people say you know success will show you who you are.
Speaker 3 You know, that will bring out, it'll surface who you are because what it triggers is usually a pretty permissive environment around you.
Speaker 3 So, you know, you don't, you can drop whatever artifice you've been using heretofore, right? So, what's great about your incredible level of success is that it did the opposite of what is
Speaker 3 kind of traditional and cliche in this business, where, you know, the more famous and rich you are, the bigger prick you are.
Speaker 3 It allowed you to be as kind and vulnerable and human as you innately are, with no fear of that being misinterpreted.
Speaker 3 I've talked about before about how Ron Howard is sort of this great North Star for me with that.
Speaker 3 Like he doesn't ever worry about anybody thinking that he's too eager to talk to them or too eager for a job when he walks into a room all smiles and chatty.
Speaker 3
Yeah, you know, because he doesn't need it. You are the same way.
And it's allowed you to be what is universally agreed upon.
Speaker 3 As far as your reputation goes, your attention to
Speaker 3 your coworkers, irrespective of the position that they hold on the set,
Speaker 3 it's just,
Speaker 3 I think it's an incredibly admirable thing, and you can't hide from that any longer.
Speaker 1 But I will say this, you know, I did have the benefit of that happening when I was 29, and I definitely would not, I mean, I thought I was making, I thought I made it when I got a Wendy's commercial and I called my dad saying, you know, I'm in a hotel that has a window that opens, like, and it's paying for it.
Speaker 1 You know, so I mean, I, I mean, in terms of the made-it thing, you know, that's when I made it.
Speaker 1 But I definitely did not feel moving to Los Angeles for alias, feeling like I was back in high school, couldn't get into any clubs, like no girls wanted to really look at me. Like, it was like, what?
Speaker 1 I mean, totally depressed.
Speaker 1
You know, so, so at 29, it wasn't till really hangover. I was 36 when I did the hangover.
So I got to go through all of those things before fame even played into my existence on a daily level.
Speaker 1 So all that happened before any of that.
Speaker 3 Which makes you so appreciative of where you are.
Speaker 1 Yeah, and then it's just like, that's like, oh, it is, it's an element. It has nothing to do with anything.
Speaker 1 Well, I was going to say, so that's what I was going to say, Jason, because Jason has made that point before, but I agree with Bradley.
Speaker 1 Bradley, you actually went through this metamorphosis before Hangover, like you said, before all this stuff. And having those realizations and having that change
Speaker 1 allowed you, that's what opened you up and allowed you to be you and allowed you to be.
Speaker 1 It's true.
Speaker 1 What is true?
Speaker 2 When you say that, what do you mean by that?
Speaker 1 Just going through all those things, and even though that again, you know, still working on self-esteem up until like a year ago and still do, but like, but I definitely made major breakthroughs, you know, 29 to 34, 2, 3, 34, where at least I was able to stand in front of somebody and breathe and listen and talk.
Speaker 1 Yeah.
Speaker 3 By touching bottom? Was touching bottom one of the things that allowed you to kind of push off?
Speaker 1 Oh, I mean, that was the, of course,
Speaker 2 the game Scotty and I play.
Speaker 1
Touching bottoms. Yeah, I was going to say, Sean, touching bottoms free.
No, it's different than that, Sean. It wasn't.
It started as a board game. It probably was.
I can't relate. I can't really.
Speaker 1 Probably was. But the fact that Will, they call it your Eskimo, Will is the reason
Speaker 1 he took that risk of having that hard conversation with me in like July of 2004
Speaker 1
that put me on a path of deciding to change my life. And it is truly Will Arnett.
He is the reason. And there's nobody else.
I'm not the reason.
Speaker 1 No, no, you're the reason that I was like, oh, you know, and it helped that it was the guy that I thought I was emulating. Do you understand what I'm saying?
Speaker 1 It's not like somebody else said it, like the king told me.
Speaker 1
And that's that. That was the thing that was so crazy.
I'm like, wait, the king came down to tell you that what you're doing is not what you really should be doing or what's right or who you even are.
Speaker 2 I was just going to ask the simple question of how did you learn esteem then? How did you get it back or discover it? Was there a specific moment or was it a gradual
Speaker 2 increase
Speaker 2 of events that led you to go, okay, it's okay to like myself.
Speaker 1 It's not a selfish thing to like myself and all of those kinds of things. I mean, I don't know about all of you, but it's a lifelong exploration.
Speaker 1 I definitely feel like it occurs and has occurred in increments. It started out by my relationships to men.
Speaker 1 I think I would always idolize male figures and then have them fall off the pedestal because I created something that wasn't even, you know, one couldn't live up to.
Speaker 1 Then in one's art, I think that was sort of the second thing to be okay to be, feel comfortable in the things I want to create and having a voice. And then just intimacy, the hardest, intimacy.
Speaker 1 And quite honestly, it hasn't been until about a year and a half ago that I decided, like, I'm just at sea and I love so much of my life, but I'm so lost.
Speaker 1 And it wasn't to, you know, working with a new therapist. And quite honestly, like
Speaker 1
today, I can sit in front of you saying I actually do have self-esteem that's not related to any outside thing. And I didn't have that for 46 years.
So it's taken me quite a long time
Speaker 1
to do that. That's cool.
Can I just say, Bradley, there is such a difference. You know,
Speaker 1
we had the benefit over the last couple months. We were in New York and stuff and hanging out for the most we've hung out in a number of years.
Yeah.
Speaker 1
It has been awesome seeing you. in this place and seeing you comfortable.
Nothing has made me happier. Just even hanging out the house with Leah and just seeing you be you and making food.
Speaker 1 And I, honest to God, dude, I was like,
Speaker 1 now I'm going to cry.
Speaker 1
It's made me happy to see you so happy with who you are. And you and I talked last year.
I called you. Do you remember this? And I said,
Speaker 1 I had a moment last year where I was like, I was so...
Speaker 1
Fucked up about like who I was and relationships and all this stuff. And I had this moment.
I told Bradley, I woke up and I went to make coffee and I went, holy shit, it's me.
Speaker 1
It's not everybody else. It's me.
And that moment, I talked to Bradley and Bradley's like, yes, he was in the same spot.
Speaker 1
And we talked about it and we talked about this guy and he turned me onto this thing and it's been unbelievable. Anyway, I'm really happy for you, man.
Jesus Christ.
Speaker 3 You guys are awesome.
Speaker 3 I mean,
Speaker 3 can you?
Speaker 2 I've loved myself since the time I got out of the womb. I got shot out loving the shit out of myself.
Speaker 1 You're like, I cannot relate to any of this.
Speaker 1 Nobody can believe that you love yourself. How can you possibly love yourself?
Speaker 3 Can you guys attribute any of this kind of newfound
Speaker 3 peace and centeredness and all that stuff to, is there a correlation to having your children and trying to provide them some guidance early on that perhaps you may have missed
Speaker 3 or didn't see coming? Or is that, I'm sure it's all part of it and it wouldn't be the only thing, but
Speaker 3 I know you're both incredible dads, so
Speaker 3 that's why I ask.
Speaker 1 I mean, fatherhood is,
Speaker 1
I mean, everything changed. So the answer is absolutely yes, along with like, you know, how I drink water.
I mean, it's like, you know, every single thing is absolutely shaded by or
Speaker 1 brought out in glorious colors by the fact that I get to be a father to a wonderful human being. I mean, it's just the absolute greatest thing.
Speaker 1 And I think it really, in regards to the work we do, I was literally talking about this a couple of days ago and
Speaker 1 thinking about, you know, you have this wonderful thing or a breakthrough with the script, right? Or you're like, oh my gosh, this person, and you have a wonderful moment
Speaker 1 on a set
Speaker 1
or a wonderful moment in the editing room. You have like 40 or of those moments every day with your kid that are that level of joy.
Exactly. So it's like the idea.
Speaker 1
I mean, and that's just not, that's not spinning it. That is just the truth.
Yeah. You know, yeah.
Speaker 1 I was like, Lee looked at me the other day and it was like, this is kind of crude, so I'm probably, but like, you know, after she goes to like the way she sits there waiting for you to wipe her butt, and it's like, I'm watching this kid, and she's like, okay, daddy.
Speaker 1 And I'm just like, this is the greatest moment
Speaker 1
of my life right now. This is the fucking, this is the best moment of my life right now.
I mean, it's just crazy.
Speaker 2 Scotty and I, Scotty and I were walking down the street in Chicago, and we saw this one woman carrying like maybe a five-year-old kid in her hand.
Speaker 2
So he's kind of a big kid and his shoe fell off and she was pissed. She was walking like 50 miles an hour.
And then 20 steps behind was
Speaker 2
the husband with two other kids in there. Everybody's screaming and crying.
And I turned to Scotty and I go, we both looked at each other.
Speaker 1 We're like, thank gosh. Fuck that.
Speaker 1 I have to say that is not my experience. No, I know.
Speaker 1
Not only is that not my experience, the other thing that's not, people keep saying, it flies by. And I'm like, I guess so.
I have not experienced that. I feel like I have changed 20,000 diapers.
Speaker 1
It's like Groundhog Day. It's like things couldn't progress more, you know, faster.
Hysterical.
Speaker 3 Yeah, there's fast parts and slow parts.
Speaker 3 But the reason I asked that question earlier is I did find for me that one of the things it does, too, is it accelerates your work on yourself because you want to not infect them with the crap you don't have yet figured out.
Speaker 1 Yes, 100%.
Speaker 1 Yeah, of course.
Speaker 1 There's that saying that this guy knows, like you don't i don't want my kids to have to recover from their childhood yeah and oh i love that or recover from your childhood yeah or from mine but certainly from theirs and you know and real sorry to interrupt just real quick on that self-esteem thing i do think a key element that i've discovered is i found myself saying telling me and myself and others a narrative about
Speaker 1 certain things my childhood my relationship to my parents like this thing press play i'm a kid from fill i got a chip on my shoulder it's like oh you know i'm always going to look up it's a you know whatever it is And eventually you're like, actually, what is the truth?
Speaker 1 Like, what was my childhood like? And the minute I actually had a real assessment of my childhood, my upbringing, then I had a foundation to work off of.
Speaker 1 Without the foundation, it is, I think, impossible, literally impossible to build self-esteem because you're building on something that's fabricated.
Speaker 2 But because you chose, because you chose not to acknowledge your childhood, you didn't remember it or why.
Speaker 1 Well, I remembered it.
Speaker 1 It was shaped by whatever insecurity or however I learned how to survive, I thought, in this world, right? I created a narrative that allowed me to survive in the way that I could.
Speaker 1 But the older you get, the more narrow
Speaker 1 your life becomes because
Speaker 1 you're not really living your true life because it's not even based on reality.
Speaker 1 And it's really popular to keep telling a story.
Speaker 1 Whatever story you're telling about yourself is a way that your life is going to go. And what you got to do is start to change the story.
Speaker 1 It's like any, you know, there's this idea that anytime you take a memory out and look at it, you change it every time and you put it back and you change it.
Speaker 1 So whatever you have happening now, Sean, it kind of goes to what you're saying.
Speaker 1 If you're not feeling good about yourself and then you take that memory out, you affect it and you go, well, this is what happened. Well, that's actually kind of what you're saying, Belly.
Speaker 1
That's not what happened. And what you're doing is you've been telling yourself this fucked up story long, and it starts to get worse.
Yes. And so the gap between what happened and
Speaker 1 actually happened and what is,
Speaker 1 that gap gets wider and wider and there's more and more pain in there when you do that.
Speaker 2 Stolen election.
Speaker 1 Anyway,
Speaker 1 you won't stop. Sean, Jesus, we're not going to check the fucking voting machines again.
Speaker 1 Sean, real quick, January 6th, where were you?
Speaker 1 Real quick.
Speaker 1 We'll be right back.
Speaker 1
Today's episode is sponsored by Ashley. They don't just sell incredible furniture, they're also making an impact in vulnerable communities.
Here's a tough fact.
Speaker 1 Over 7 million kids are affected by the welfare system and over 368,000 are currently in foster care.
Speaker 1 So together with Ashley and SiriusXM, we made a donation to four others, an organization working to end the child welfare crisis in America. You know, partnering with Ashley in our live show,
Speaker 1
first of all, they just made our set look really good. They made us really really comfortable.
And they kind of made us look legit because otherwise it would have been, you know, milk crates and,
Speaker 1 you know, cardboard boxes. And Ashley made it look like a real, kind of looked like a living room, made it really comfortable, made our guest, John Mayer, really comfortable.
Speaker 1
And then he thought that maybe we were professional. We're not just a bunch of clowns.
To be honest, there was a point where I got so comfortable, I forgot that I was in front of an audience.
Speaker 1 I was sitting back on that nice Ashley couch and I was just hanging out with my buds in my living room.
Speaker 1 Anyway, Ashley offers timeless well-crafted furniture with white glove delivery right to your door. Visit your local Ashley store or head to ashley.com to find your style.
Speaker 2 Some like it hot, but for most, a little spice goes a long way.
Speaker 2 Dorito's golden sriracha flavored tortilla chips are the perfectly balanced blend of yellow and green srirachas for a chip that's tangy and sweet with just the right amount of heat.
Speaker 2 Doritos golden sriracha are spicy, but not too spicy because Doritos knows bold flavor doesn't have to mean just heat. Try Dorito's Golden Sriracha for yourself.
Speaker 2 Look for them wherever Doritos are sold or find a store near you at Doritos.com. Doritos for the bold.
Speaker 2 This is an ad by BetterHelp. Have you ever had someone that you haven't reached out to in a long time and you're just like, you know what, just do it.
Speaker 2 I just did that recently and it was such a wonderful experience we had a great lunch a lot of catching up and i'm so glad we did it it was great as the seasons change shorter days don't have to weigh you down this season better help encourages you to reach out check in on friends reconnect with loved ones and remind them you're there just like it takes a little courage to send that text or grab coffee with someone you haven't seen in a while reaching out for therapy can feel difficult too but it can be worth it it can leave people wondering why didn't i do this sooner with over 30,000 therapists worldwide, BetterHelp is one of the leading online therapy platforms.
Speaker 2
BetterHelp therapists are fully qualified. BetterHelp does the initial matching work for you so you can focus on your therapy goals.
This month, don't wait to reach out.
Speaker 2 Whether you're checking in on a friend or reaching out to a therapist, BetterHelp makes it easier to take that first step.
Speaker 2 Our listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com/slash smartless. That's betterhelp.com/slash smartless.
Speaker 1 And now, back to the show.
Speaker 1 Well, I wanted to ask a question about an hour ago about your career.
Speaker 1 Go ahead. Just get it over here.
Speaker 1 I just kind of always wanted to know. I've never asked you.
Speaker 2 I can't believe I never asked you. I'm sure you got this in the press junket and everything, but I don't know the answer.
Speaker 2 Why did you pick a Star is Born, to Jason's point, way, way earlier when it was done, I don't know, two, three times before? And weren't you scared to take on such a massive, iconic kind of thing?
Speaker 2 I'm sorry to ask such a double-clicking.
Speaker 1 Is it my question? Because it does put a target on it. I mean, it takes a lot of guts to do that.
Speaker 2 Yeah, that's, and I know you've been asked that, I'm sure, a million times, but I've never asked you that.
Speaker 1 Well, I mean, as Jason knows, you can't really choose what it is is going to motivate you to do all that work that it fucking takes to write and direct something.
Speaker 1 And it just sort of, you know, I always deep down thought maybe I could like play a rock star
Speaker 1 only because I thought I could crush air guitar, you you know as Will knows
Speaker 1 so much so but I'm so crazy about like making sure he's a good air that I went on Jimmy Fallon and I asked I said can I do an air guitar just to see if I believed it right
Speaker 1 I'm not kidding so I went on I went on the tonight show and I said can I do down by the river by Neil Young and I did it and I looked at it and I was like yeah I think I buy that okay I'll do a star sport that's hysterical
Speaker 1 I'm like I think I could pull this off I wasn't sure before but I think maybe I could pull this off.
Speaker 2 I'm going to use the tonight show as a workshop. Have you seen Arnett do air bass?
Speaker 1
Oh, God. Yeah.
Are you kidding? Night Court? Come on. Night Court? Yeah.
And then he goes right into Law and Order. Law and Order.
Speaker 1 No, but I thought you did Night Court, too, didn't you?
Speaker 1 I've done Night Court. You know, the best, one of the best air guitarists of all time is John Glazer.
Speaker 1 But I went, yeah, we did air guitar with Conan, and I threw him the flute in the Law and Order theme song.
Speaker 1 And then Conan started doing the fucking, no, the clarinet the air clarinet so you had to wet the reed wet the reed wet the reed right wait so now i have another thing so a star is born and then leonard bernstein what is the music thing what when did the music love stars the star the truth is a star is born i wanted i wanted to tell a love story i always thought like that seemed moving to me uh that that's what i and then i thought well there's no better way as you know sean is like you can't hide when you sing it is you literally cannot hide it's impossible because your voice is the instrument and it has to be loose for the chords to vibrate and if you're if you're tense or you're stuck it's not going to work that's right um so i thought gosh if i could like marry that into in a way that would be that would be awesome and so that's how that sort of started and got it that was a property that was around warner brothers and clint issues was going to do it and he asked me but i i didn't think i could play jackson main i hadn't done american sniper yet i hadn't done elephant man and i thought i honestly thought that i couldn't i would be acting like i was like i just don't know enough honestly about life and shit i i don't think i could play this guy and then once i thought i could play it, he didn't want to do it.
Speaker 1 And then I thought, well, you know what? I'm 40.
Speaker 1 All the directors I admire, they don't really want me to do their movies. So what am I going to do? And all I want to do is be at the center of the creative experience.
Speaker 1 I'm going to have to fucking do it myself. I've spent a day.
Speaker 1
Wait a second. You say that no, the directors you admire want you to do their movies.
I mean, this is just the truth.
Speaker 1 Look, I had, in no way, look, I've had an incredible opportunity to work with great directors, but, you know, like the Cohen brothers, Martin Scorsese, Paul Thomas Anderson, David Fincher, you know, the list goes on and on.
Speaker 1 I just couldn't be in any of those guys' movies.
Speaker 1 Catherine Bigelow. So,
Speaker 1 and I was 40 and I was like, I just spent a decade on the road, basically.
Speaker 1 And had like, you know, two or three experiences where, you know, it took like a pound of flesh out of me because I am so invested in the projects I do.
Speaker 1
And I felt like I wasn't working with people that I really wanted to work with to grow and get better. And it was like, I'm 40.
I want a kid. I want to slow down.
Speaker 1 And I want to do stuff that I really care about. And that's what started that.
Speaker 2 So now that you're doing Leonard Bernstein.
Speaker 1
And that was another thing. I always wanted to be a conductor.
Honestly.
Speaker 1 Like, since I was a kid, Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry, you know, and spending hundreds of hours by myself as a kid pretending I could conduct like air guitar.
Speaker 1
And then this project was around. I just finished the Starsborne.
And I thought, gosh, let me research. Leonard Bernstein.
Speaker 1 If I feel like there's a story in there that I could commit four and a half years to, because I don't know how to do it any without any shorter time.
Speaker 1 Can I write it and do it? And then that's how that started. And I just did all this research about this incredible family, the Bernsteins, and Felicia Montalegre, his wife, fascinating.
Speaker 1
Their relationship, fascinating. The kids.
And I thought, and how they're articulate they are about their feelings. There's the movie.
A movie about marriage, a movie about family. That's it.
Speaker 1
And why is it nuclear? Because it's this. fucking music that is just, you know, music is nuclear.
I had a secret weapon in A Stars Born. It was Lady Gaga.
Speaker 1 The secret weapon I have in this movie is fucking Leonard Bernstein and Gustav Mahler, that music.
Speaker 2 But
Speaker 2 what is your connection with music? Like, did you...
Speaker 1
I don't remember you singing Bradley before Starsburg. I never sang movie.
No, no. Yeah.
So when you were like singing the thing, I'm like, wait, Bradley's singing all these songs.
Speaker 1
But I will. I worked my ass off.
I know, obviously. I mean.
But again, I thought maybe I could sing, but I had to work really hard because we did everything live. We sang everything live.
Speaker 1 Dude, it's incredible that you did it. It's fucking nuts.
Speaker 1 It's fucking crazy.
Speaker 1
Look at Jason. Jason couldn't do anything.
No, nothing. If you asked me right now, I can't even do my hair.
Jason, do something. He's the most gorgeous man in the world.
Look at him. Look at him.
Speaker 1
He's so gorgeous. Look at him.
Snap both hands. Same kind of thing.
And talk. And talk.
Speaker 3 What about where does the I know it's kind of a trite question?
Speaker 3 I'm sure you've answered this one a bunch of times too, but the passion between acting and directing, they're completely different in their creative agendas, endeavors, and goals.
Speaker 3 One is a bit more singular,
Speaker 3 and the other one is a bit more sort of global with multiple departments. And you're, anyway, where do those two things balance for you and sit?
Speaker 3 You know, I'm not going to say which do you like more, but
Speaker 3 what type of mood are you in when you gravitate more towards one versus the other?
Speaker 1 The truth is, it's always been the same thing. It's never been different.
Speaker 1 Whether it was being on alias and asking for everybody's dailies on VHS tapes that I would watch at home and sit in the editing room every time I wasn't on set, because I really all I did was like do three scenes and ask Sidney Bristow like how her trip was and like make popcorn.
Speaker 1
So I wasn't doing anything. And but I learned I was fascinated about the process of making cinema and it's always been that.
And so it's never really changed.
Speaker 1 And I don't even see it as two separate things, Jason.
Speaker 1 It's all part of the same thing.
Speaker 1 But the answer is there's nothing I enjoy more artistically than doing the things that you and I have talked about a lot, which is, you know, having an idea, exploring it, writing it, and then asking a group of people that you admire and inspire you to come help you do it and create it and then put it out in the world.
Speaker 1 It's the greatest gift ever.
Speaker 1 If there's nothing better, there's just nothing better. Yeah.
Speaker 1
I love that. That's our first commercial brand.
Right now, a word from our sponsors. Yeah, I was just going to say,
Speaker 1 let's go from that to, I think you told us,
Speaker 1
Bradley, I was just thinking, you're talking about the 10 years of being on the road. And I was thinking about the Hangover movies.
I mean, you went and you did like,
Speaker 1 we're not even mentioning the fact that you were in three of the top groceries. Can I show you this real quick?
Speaker 1 Can I show you guys this real quick?
Speaker 1 So I haven't talked to Ed and Zach together in years, and my daughter woke up this morning. If I play this, can I play? So this is my daughter this morning.
Speaker 1 So I texted those guys and I was like, hangover four, let's do it.
Speaker 1 Remember who let the dogs out? That's like the thing of us walking down the hallway. Dude, dude, that's amazing.
Speaker 2 Did she get that from watching the movie?
Speaker 1
Or how did she know? Yeah, I show it to her. We watch it every Friday.
Sure, yeah.
Speaker 1
She's four years old. Yeah, way to go, Sean.
Yeah, she's watching who let the dogs out. She's watching chicken hangover.
Right. Oh my god.
Speaker 1
You know what? I'm glad you didn't have kids. I'm glad you didn't have kids.
And now I get why your father left, too. Listen.
Oh, Jesus. Here we go.
We've got to get rid of it. Mean humor.
Speaker 1 Here's the thing about mean humor. Mean humor is a thing.
Speaker 3 Somebody at Franny's school, I guess, said to her that they liked horrible bosses or something, so she said she wanted to watch it.
Speaker 3
So I started watching with Franny the other night and my 10-year-old. So Franny's 15, Maple's 10.
And we're five seconds into the movie.
Speaker 3 And Anniston is talking about breaking her finger, fingering herself to Penn Badgley watching the CW show. I cry, whoa, whoa, I totally forgot how inappropriate it was.
Speaker 3 And it's just like, you got to be careful.
Speaker 1
I know. I'm not very good at that.
I have to say.
Speaker 1 If you ask my daughter, like, White Lotus, she'll go, the guy who pooped in the suitcase.
Speaker 3 But she is not yet watching Hangover, right?
Speaker 2 Bradley, when you're knees deep
Speaker 2 in a movie like this, that you're not going to be.
Speaker 1 Oh, good in a movie.
Speaker 1 No, it just, that could have gone either.
Speaker 1 Any direction. Sorry.
Speaker 2 Do you, are you, do you have any kind of other project that you can think about or any kind of thing that you're thinking beyond that? Are you all in 24 hours a day on this one thing?
Speaker 2 And I can't imagine you can focus on it.
Speaker 1
I think every experience is different, but I will say this. The last month, I have not been sleeping.
I really have not been able to sleep. I keep playing the movie in my head and
Speaker 1
I have like acid reflux, which I've never had. I have like, you know, Pepsodacea by the bedside.
Now, Lenny, Lenny couldn't, Lenny was an insomniac.
Speaker 1 And there's actually a scene in the movie where Julia Vega, who was there with him for the whole night, like wipes the tumbs off his face.
Speaker 1 So I don't know what's happening, but this one, I have to say, has me pretty possessed.
Speaker 3 Do you have time to do anything stupid? on the weekends or later.
Speaker 1
It's that and then being a dad. It's literally that.
Yeah. And Leah's mother is incredible, but we share custody.
But when I have her, you know, it's just me and Leah. And
Speaker 1 thank God. Here's another thing about being sober and having humility is like, I realize I can't do this movie and take care of Leah without any help.
Speaker 1 So literally tonight, in like minutes away, someone is coming that's going to stay in New York and help out till the end of the shoot, which I never would have done, but I'm thank goodness I'm doing it.
Speaker 1
I know, which is amazing. You've never done you're an incredible dad in that way.
Jason said it before, but we all, we've all gotten to witness it.
Speaker 1
But only unselfishly because of those things about the 40 moments of like life, you know, life moment. I just love it.
I just, I don't want any moment that I could be with her not to be with her.
Speaker 1
Yeah, for sure. That's why, like, later she'd be like, Dad, and you never were apart.
You were so, you stuck to me all the time. No, but I thought it was a good thing.
Speaker 1 I know. It's important.
Speaker 1
That's why I'm fucked up, dad. That connection.
no, that connection's love. Jason, your kids' names, quick.
Three, two, one.
Speaker 1
This is what I'm talking about. No, you guys are both great dads.
And yeah, you're right. You don't want to, and it's not even that you don't want your kids to
Speaker 1 say that later.
Speaker 1 You just don't want to not do it now. You don't want to miss it.
Speaker 1
I just enjoy it. It's really simple.
I just enjoy hanging with her. I just love it.
Yeah. Yeah.
Same.
Speaker 2 Is that a picture of the elephant man behind you?
Speaker 1 Yeah, there he is.
Speaker 2 You you in that play was one of the best performances I've ever seen in my whole life.
Speaker 1
Oh man. Yeah, at the booth theater, right? Yes.
At the booth theater. Where it originated.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 So crazy.
Speaker 3 I'm so sick that I did that. It was so good.
Speaker 1 Yeah, but
Speaker 2 you know what I noticed? Bradley, every single night, correct me if I'm wrong, but what I noticed is you're wrong.
Speaker 1 Oh, you mean about this story? Okay.
Speaker 2 You had, as your performance is the elephant man, on your hand, you had a rubber band around your hand, right?
Speaker 1 That you would. No, no, I did this thing that I used to do as a kid
Speaker 1
that I'm sure you guys did. You know, this thing.
Oh, you did that? And you just held it there the whole time?
Speaker 3 I hold the fingers over each other. Yeah.
Speaker 1 So I thought you had a rubber band around your hand. Fingers.
Speaker 3 But didn't you? I think I remember you telling me that your back was all fucked up.
Speaker 1
Oh, yeah, man. Not only that, the left side of my face got larger than the right and my right hand, because we did 365 performances and my right hand actually started to have issues.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 Now, when you have you done theater since then?
Speaker 1 I have not, unfortunately. And I, yeah, which sucks, because I do, it's, It's one of those things where it's the hardest thing, it's the most rewarding, and it's the most monotonous thing.
Speaker 1 It's like it's all these things, right?
Speaker 1
Yeah. But the monotony of it, you're like, oh, my God.
And then you're like, oh, it's kind of great. Oh, Jesus.
Oh, I kind of love it.
Speaker 1
I hope to do it right after Maestro, actually. Maybe Williamstown, because then it's a five-week thing.
Bam, you're in and out. Ooh.
Yeah, that'd be good. I remember it.
Speaker 1
But there's nothing like being on stage. I mean, it's the greatest thing in the world.
Dude, what is the one you did before that, three days ago? I mean, even Ray, what did you think of the tour?
Speaker 1 I mean, the energy of the tour, though, right? When you guys were there. I mean,
Speaker 1 there's nothing like it. There's just fucking, there's nothing like it.
Speaker 1
How funny, though, Will. You're like, I got this crazy idea.
We're all talking about it, about doing this thing. Man, I think it sounds great, Will.
Cut to
Speaker 1
this is the 100th episode. What? Yeah.
What the? It's really ridiculous. It was like a second ago.
You're like, we have this crazy thing. We're going to do it.
Speaker 2 By the way, we couldn't have had the more perfect 100th
Speaker 1 guest. It really tried to be.
Speaker 2 It's perfection. It makes sense because we're all familiar.
Speaker 1
About 50 times I forgot that we're doing the podcast right now. Me Me too.
I just fucking totally forgot. I know.
You know?
Speaker 2 It's so nice.
Speaker 1 Yeah, Bradley, man.
Speaker 1
I'm so glad that you're on this on this hundredth episode with us. You're such a big part of all of our lives.
And we love you, man.
Speaker 1
Just keep fucking doing it. Keep reaching.
I don't think I'd ever say this earnestly to anybody, but keep fucking reaching for
Speaker 1
the stars and hitting for outside of the park and taking big swings. It's fucking awesome and inspiring.
It is inspiring. Just love you, dude.
Love you, Brandon. I love you guys.
Speaker 1 Really?
Speaker 3 It really is. It's very exciting to watch you go.
Speaker 1
Yeah. Oh, man.
Thank you. And we wish you were here tonight.
I know. I was listening and I thought, oh, fuck.
I wish I was there, man.
Speaker 2 Wait, when does the movie come out-ish? Like the end of the day?
Speaker 1
I guess we'll give a toast in your name. Please, yeah.
It won't come out till the fall of 23, I think. Okay.
Got it. Thanks.
Holy shit.
Speaker 3 You're shooting the whole thing out in New York?
Speaker 1 No, no. We start in Massachusetts, Massachusetts, then we're in New York, East Hampton, and then we take a break, and then we go to Italy for three weeks, and then we end in London.
Speaker 1 And the last day, the last two days, are Mahler's Resurrection at Ely Cathedral. I don't know if you know that, like, it's one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in the world,
Speaker 1
live, conducting it with 180 chords, 74 orchestra, the soprano, mezzo soprano. We just cast these incredible singers.
I mean, it's going to be, I can't even like,
Speaker 3 I'm so friggin excited. Jesus.
Speaker 1 Who knows if it'll work, you know, because we're going to do it live. Like, it's like it either works or it doesn't.
Speaker 3 Taking on the scope.
Speaker 3 The scope and the scale and just the mechanic, just the logistics of it alone. You know, I just
Speaker 3 couldn't admire you more.
Speaker 1 No, it's amazing.
Speaker 1 And just to have that kind of, that ambition, speaking of Jason, did he's, you know, he's going to tee off tomorrow and he's going to play 18 and then he's going to do a six-mile run on a treadmill.
Speaker 1 I mean,
Speaker 1 and I might have
Speaker 1
a bucket of balls after all. You know what I mean? I mean, that's ambition as well.
It's a lot. And, Sean, you never played golf back in the day, right? This is relatively new, right, Jason? Me?
Speaker 3 Well, no, I started when I was 18, but then I started to play.
Speaker 1 Oh, you did?
Speaker 1 Wow, I felt like when we first met, you were not like golf, like Will was obsessed with golf and you didn't play.
Speaker 3 That's why it stopped for a while. Then Will got me back in during COVID.
Speaker 1 By the way, real quick, the best thing in this, I think, in this Marlinist thing is that, like, who was the guest? And he's like, Jason, didn't you win that like Formula One race?
Speaker 1 And you're like, yeah, yeah, I did. Like, what?
Speaker 1
No. He's one of those cheesy songs.
Talking about an assassin guy who can do anything. No, but it's true.
Jason, please. It's like, it's like, just admit your power.
So it's true.
Speaker 1
It's like, dude, he fucking won a Formula One race. It wasn't Formula One race.
Bradley. Bradley, not only did you do that, it was the Long Beach Grand Prix thing, and he did that.
That's crazy.
Speaker 1
And then recently he goes, you won the whole thing. No, he won.
And then recently we're talking about a golf tournament.
Speaker 1
We're talking about a different golf tournament. He goes, the Bob Hope or whatever.
And he goes, yeah, I won that twice out in the house.
Speaker 1 What do you mean? You won it.
Speaker 1 What are you talking about, dude? I know. What are you talking about?
Speaker 3 This is Bradley's time.
Speaker 1 No, but it's annoying.
Speaker 1 Sean Sean got
Speaker 1 Brad you got longest you got the
Speaker 1 best custom best customer ever at Shakey's Pizza whatever it was
Speaker 1 a million miler they said a million miles of pizza you ate a million miles of pizza
Speaker 1 oh man
Speaker 1 Bradley
Speaker 3 you get fired and get out here and come hang out Come on.
Speaker 1
That's enough already. You have to fire himself.
Bradley, thank you, man. We have to go to the bathroom.
Bradley, thank you, everybody.
Speaker 2 Love you, pal. Thank you.
Speaker 1
Guys, thank you, buddy. Thank you for this.
Love you.
Speaker 1
What an honor. Thank you.
Love you. Love you, love you.
Love my buddy.
Speaker 1 Greg, perfect guest for 100 episodes.
Speaker 2 And like I said at the end, he feels like family. So that was a
Speaker 2 perfect idea.
Speaker 1 I know.
Speaker 1
I know. That's what I thought.
I thought, you know, we need to have somebody that we all know and that there's history and family that we hadn't had on.
Speaker 1 And of course, it was wild that we hadn't had Bradley, we had him on the tour, but, you know.
Speaker 3 And just so generous to be so honest and open with
Speaker 3 knowing that it ain't just us three, you know, kicking around and
Speaker 1 having old times.
Speaker 2 But think of it.
Speaker 2 I love chit chats like that because.
Speaker 2 How many people that helps, how many people relate to it.
Speaker 2
If you're having similar issues, that you can relate to somebody even like Bradley Cooper, who's going through the same thing as anybody else. So it normalizes it.
And it's a constant practice.
Speaker 1 But it's the ability to actually connect with yourself and be able to go.
Speaker 1 And Bradley has, and I mean, and you guys have noticed it too. We talked about, you know, he has done a lot of work and he's, you know, and we know other people have too in our lives.
Speaker 1 And we know we have members of our family and ourselves who we talk about these things all the time about being in touch with where we're at and what's going on and being honest with yourself.
Speaker 1
What's great is Bradley. It's self-aware.
Yeah. And that self-awareness comes from being honest about where you're at.
And, you know, I think that I love that stuff.
Speaker 1 I can talk all day about the, you know, the idea of whatever it is, you are, whatever story it is that you decide to tell about yourself. Fucking people love getting hung up on their story.
Speaker 1
They love it. They love it.
They love it. And it's the whole idea.
And they go, and also, like, that goes for the future, too. If you're talking about, well, you know, shit's going to be really hard.
Speaker 1 Then shit's going to be really hard. And it's all you can decide.
Speaker 2 And for more information, check out my Instagram stories.
Speaker 1 Yeah, sorry. I forgot to keep driving people to your socials.
Speaker 1 If you want to see Sean and Scotty high in their living room dancing to commercials,
Speaker 1
look, that's the story we tell ourselves. That's the story we're telling.
Sean and Scotty are the gummies.
Speaker 1 I know you did.
Speaker 3 But truly, this 100 thing is a real, a real, like, I'm surprised every time
Speaker 3
that we have a podcast. Like, I'm like, oh, this podcast tomorrow.
Like, I can't can't believe we do a podcast.
Speaker 3
You know, I hope I never get used to it. Um, because it stays as soon as it's like, oh, yeah, that's so great.
We get to go do that. It's so thank you, everybody, for letting us do this.
Speaker 3 Like, not only do we get to connect with our friends like Bradley, but we get to meet new people that we don't know and we get to kind of pick their brain.
Speaker 3
And hopefully, we're asking some of the questions you want asked. And you keep listening.
We'll keep doing it.
Speaker 1
Yes, it means just the world to us. So, thank you.
Thank you for listening. Thank you for being there.
And I'm so grateful that you give us the opportunity to do it. So, thank you.
Speaker 1 A big, genuine, sincere, thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of our heart. And
Speaker 3 the tallest, most bold capital letters of
Speaker 3 smart
Speaker 3 Less.
Speaker 1 Smartless is 100% organic and artisanally handcrafted by Rob Armjarv, Bennett Barbico, and Michael Grantary.
Speaker 1 Smart Less
Speaker 4 There are millions of podcasts out there, and you've chosen this one. Whether you're a regular or just here on a whim, it's what you have chosen to listen to.
Speaker 4
With Yoto, your kids can have the same choice. Yoto is a screen-free, ad-free audio player.
With hundreds of Yoto cards, there are stories, music, and podcasts like this one, but for kids.
Speaker 4 Just slot a card into the player and let the adventure begin. Check out YotoPlay.com.
Speaker 2 You know those moments when you're trying to work through a complex problem and you can't stop until you've found the answer?
Speaker 2 That's where where Claude comes in, the AI for minds that don't stop at good enough.
Speaker 2 Whether you're planning something big, researching a topic you're curious about, or just trying to work through a problem, Claude matches your level of curiosity.
Speaker 2 Try Claude for free at claude.ai/slash smartless and see why the world's best problem solvers choose Claude as their thinking partner.